Shredding-machine.



-J. W. KEOGH.

SHREDDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. II. 1916.

1 07,055. Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

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.l. W. KEOGH.

SHREDDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. II. I916.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. W. KEOGH.

Patented D00. 5, 1916.

6 SHEETSSHEET 4.

J. W. KEOGH.

SHREDDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1!. me.

Patented Dec. 5,1916.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5 m: Mom": rnnu ca. ruomuma. \usnmc you. n. c

J. w. KEOGH.

SHREDDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. ll. I916.

1,207,055. Patented Dec. 5,1916.

- 6 SHEETS-SHEET s. 44

UNKE STATE$ PATENT FIGE.

JOHN W. KEOGI-I, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHREDDING-MACHINE.

Application filed April 17, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN W. Knosn', a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shredding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in shredding machines particularly adapted though not necessarily limited in its use in the manufacture of excelsior and one of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved machine of this character in which the cutters will have a constant direction of movement.

A further object is to provide improved means for intermittently advancing to the cutter the article to be operated upon.

A further object is to provide an improved machine of this character in which the cutter will travel in a substantially straight plane while it is acting upon the face of the article being out.

To the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new and useful objects as will appear, the invention consists in the features of novelty in substantially the construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention and in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an improved machine of this character constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1 and as taken from the left hand side of the machine. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. -11; is a vertical sectional view on line 4-1, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an irregular transverse sectional view on line 5-5, Fig. 1. Fig. (3 is an irregular transverse sectional view on line 66, Fig. 1, with parts omitted. big. 7 is a sectional view taken on line T-7, Fig. Fig. 8 is a detail elevation taken on line 88, Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the mechanism is supported by a hollow frame preferably comprising the side walls or uprights 10, spaced from each other and connected by means of cross pieces 11. The frame thus constructed mav be of any desired size and arranged at the top thereof is a shaft 12 while a similar Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

Serial No. 91,552.

shaft 13 is arranged adjacent the bottom. The shaft 12 is rotatably supported in suitable bearings 1 1, while the shaft 13 is rotatably supported in suitable bearings 15. These bearings are adjustable in any suitable manner so as to aline the shafts 12, 13 and also to take up or compensate for any wear and hold the flexible members 16 taut, and which flexible members pass over suitable sprocket or toothed wheels 17 secured to the shaft 12 and similar sprocket members 18 which are secured to the shaft 13.

The sprockets 17 are spaced laterally from each other as are also the sprockets 18 and the flexible members 16 which pass thereover are connected by means of cutter supports 19 and these supports are spaced from each other in directions longitudinal of the flexible members 16. Any number of the cutter supports 19 may be provided and each in turn is provided with an aperture 20 therethrough for the reception of a cutter 21, which latter is mounted in a frame 22, adapted to be secured to thesupport 19 which projects through the aperture therein and the frame 22 also carries scoring devices which preferably are in the form of spurs or small knives. The cutter 21 is removably secured in the frame in any suitable manner, such as by means of fastening devices 24, while the scoring devices 23 are removably secured in position in the frame 22 by suitable fastening devices 25. The scoring devices are located in advance of the cutters 21 for any desired distance, but they are preferably arranged in close proximity thereto, so that during the operation of the machine, the scoring devices will first act upon the article 26 to scratch or cause ridges to be formed in the face of the article and the scoring devices are then followed by the cutters 21 which cut off the face of the article which has been thus prepared.

Intermediate the supports 19 and connected with the endless flexible members 16 are shields or guards 27, which, like the support 19 substantially fill the space between the flexible members 16, and these shields are provided for the purpose of not only protecting the face of the article 26, but also the cutters, to insure the proper engagement of the scoring devices and cutters with the face of the article and thereby prevent the corner of the article from being engaged by the cutters which might cause damage. These shields 27, may be of any desired size and any suitable number may be provided between adjacent supports 19;

In order to hold the cutters in a proper position during their cutting operation and against a, lateral swinging movement with respect to the article when the cutters are operating upon the article, suitable guides 28 are provided which are arranged between the sprocket elements 17, 18, as shown more clearly in Fig. l, and extend along the path of movement the cutters during their ei'igagement with the article. These guide are preferably provided with a groove or slot 29 in which projections 30 on extended portions of the supports 19 are adapted to more, and if desired the grooves may be provided with Babbitt metal 31, or any other suitable material, to reduce friction between the parts. The shields 2? may also be provided with projecting portions 32 having projections thereon similar to the projections 30 to enter the grooves 29 in the guides 28. It will thus be manifest that when the cutters are being moved, the projections on the supports will enter the grooves 29 to form a rigid abutment against lateral movement of the cutters with respect to the article and thereby prcv nt the cutters from swinging away from the article when the article is fed thereto. The guides 28 are preferably somewhat extended so that a plurality pf articles can be simul taneously fed to a plurality of cutters and the distance between the shafts 12 and 1-3 and the length of the endless flexible elements 16 are such that during the time that the cutters are operating upon the face of the article, the cutters will travel in a substantially straight plane, thereby insuring the operation of the cutter upon the article in a direction lengthwise of the grain of the article, with the result that the strips cut from the article will not only be of a uniform thickness throughout their length, but will be out according to the grain, thereby insuring durability of the strips and avoiding the danger of imparting brittleness to the strips, which would be the case in the event that the cutters travel in a curved plane with respect to the grain of the article, as the strip would be partially cut from the article in a direction transverse o-r crosswise of the grain.

Any suitable means may be provided for imparting motion to the endless flexible ele ment 16 to drive the cutters and for this purpose a driving pulley 33 may be connected with one of the shafts l2, l3 and which pulley receives its motion from any suitable source of power.

The supporting frame is preferably of a hollow construction so that the particles which have been cut from the articles will be discharged into the receptacle formed by the frame work to be collected and in order to prevent the particles from falling upon the shaft 13 and onto the flexible elements, a partition 3% ma 5' be provided which extends across the shaft 13 and forms the bottom of the receptacle while the sides of the receptacle, formed by the supporting structure, may be provided with openings 35 through which openings the particles may be removed in any suitable manner and conveyed away, without stopping the operation of the machine. The articles 2? from which the particles are to be out, may be presented to the cutters in any desired or suitable manner, but the preferred mechanism for feed ing the articles will be now described and inasmuch as a plurality of articles can be simultmieously fed to the cutters and as the feeding mechanism for each of these articles is the same, the specific description of one will apply equally as well to them all.

Mounted upon the supporting structure to extend transversely of the direction of movement, of the cutters is a fixed roll. 36 (see particularly Figs. l and 7) and is ournaled in suitable bearings. Spaced from this roll 36 and in a direction lengthwise of the direction of movement of the cutters another roll 37, and this roll 37 is mounted in suit able bearings 38, one adjacent each end of the roll, and which bearin gs project through suitable openings 39 in the wall of the supporting structure. Connected with each of the bearings 38 is a rack 40, and meshing with each of the racks is a pinion ll, and these pinions are connected by means of a suitable shaft 42, journals-d in suitable bearings 3 (see particularly Fig. A spring i3 is provided, one for each of the racks 40 and one end of the spring is connected with the rack, while the other end of the spring is anchored to a: suitable fixed support M. The normal tendency of these springs is to move the racks l0 in their guides l i in directions toward the fixed roll 36 so that when the article 26 is in position between the rolls 36, $37, the spring operates to cause the article to be clamped between the rolls. The slot 39 also permits the roll 37 to be moved for varying distances to compensate the varying sizes of different articles to be operated upon. When it is desired to separate the rolls 36, S7, to insert another article, all that is necessary is to shift the racks 4:0 and the roll 37 with respect to the roll 36. This may be accomplished in any suitable man- .ner but preferably by means of a gear 45, which may be either a complete gear or a mutilated gear, as shown in Fig. 1 in dotted lines, and which gear is mounted upon a stubshaft 46 so as to mesh with a gear 47 connected with the shaft d2. The gear 45 may be rotated, preferably by means of a pulley 4-8 over which the flexible member 49 passes and to which one end of the flexible member is secured while the other end of the iiexible member may be secured to any suitable manually operated means, such as a treadle (not shown). Thus it will be apparent that by operating the treadle, the pulley lo will be rotated and this in turn will. rotate the gear 15, which imparts its motion to the gear 17 to rotate the shaft and with it the pinions 11., which will shift the racks i and the roll 37.

Obviously, inasmuch as the cutters are connected with the endless flexible element 16, and in order to utilize both sides of the machine at the same time, to simultaneously feed a plurality of articles to the cutters, the position of the fixed roll 36 and adjustable roll 37 on opposite sides of the machine must be reversed wit-h respect to each other and the fixed roll 36 is always located in such a position that it will form a fixedabutment for the article when it is being operated upon by the cutter. The tension of the springs 13 is such that it will hold the adjustable roller 37 at all times in a proper position and is sufficient also to support the weight of the article.

Motion is imparted to the rolls to feed the article to the cutters, preferably in the manner which will now be described. Connected with the fixed roll 36 is a worm gear 50 and connected with the adjustable roll 37 is a similar worm. gear 51. Meshing with the worm gear 50 is a worm 52, while a similar worm 53 meshes with the gear 51, and these worms are connected with a shaft for rotation therewith and which shaft is mounted in suitable bearings The worm 53 is of an extended length so that when the roll-37 is adjusted with respect to the roll 36, the worm gear 51 which is connected with the roll 37, will always remain in mesh with the worm It is only necessary to provide this worm connection on one side of each of the rolls.

To rotate the shaft 54:, a bevel gear 56 may be provided which is connected with the shaft and with which gear 56 another bevel gear 57 meshes and this gear 57 is connected with a shaft 58 journaled in suitable bearings 59. Connected to the shaft 58 for rotation therewith is a gear 60 which meshes with the gear 61 connected with a shaft 62, which latter is journaled in suitable bearings 63 and has connected with it another worm gear 64-. A cam 65 is provided and is preferably connected with the shaft 12 of the sprocket element 17 at the top of the machine,-which cooperates with the worm gear 64:, so that when the shaft is rotated, the cam will. be rotated and this in turn will. impart motion to the shaft 62 through the gear 64: to rotate the gear (31, and the gear 60, which latter rotates the bevel gears 57, 56 and thereby rotates the shaft 5a and the worms 52, 53 which respectively mesh with the worm gears 50 and 51. Obviously a similar cam 65 may be connected with the shaft 13 at the bottom of the machine for the other feeding mechanism and a similar operative connection between this cam 3 and the respective feeding mechanisms may be provided, so that one set of work feeding mechanism operated by one of the shafts to feed while the work of the other set of feeding mechanism is being cut, and the other set of feeding mechanism being operated by another of said shafts to feed while the work just previously fed by the other set of feeding mechanism is being cut, whereby, the strain on the work, the laps of the carrier and the sides of the frame is balanced.

In order to prevent any danger which might be occasioned by the wedging action of the remaining spall or uncut portion of the article, by the longitudinal shifting movement which might be imparted to the spall by the operation of the roll 37 thereof, and which shifting would tend to jam the spall with respect to the roll 36, a suitable shield or guard 66 may be provided adjacent each of the fixed rolls 36 and in such a position that after the spall leaves the roll as it will still be held under the guard 66 and be held against such longitudinal shifting act-ion.

l-leretofore in machines of this character, and especially in machines where the cutting of the article is accomplished by means of a reciprocating cutter, considerable difficulty has been experienced in that the heat gencrated in the cutters by the constant friclional action of the cutters upon the block face in one direction and then another tends to occasion fire especially when the particles cut from the block are very thin, and furthermore, with the reciprocating cutters, considerable power and energy is lost.

'3 y the provision of the continuously traveling cutters having a. constant direction of movement it will be manifest that the efficiency of the machine is greatly increased as it not only enables the cutting of a plurality of articles at the same time, but the cutters are so spaced from each other, as are also the blocks, as to give the cutters an opportunity to cool off while they are passing from one block to another.

Obviously the feeding mechanism for the blocks or articles is so proportioned that the article will be fed into a new position to have a new portion cut therefrom after one of the cutters has left the block or moved out of engagement therewith and before the next adjacent cutter comes into contact vwith the block.

\Vhat is claimed as new is:

In a machine of the class described, a frame, a plurality of independently supported shafts carried by the frame, an endless ing mechanism is being cut, and the other set of Work feeding mechanism being 0perated by another of said shaft-s tofeed While 15 the Work fed by the other set of feeding mechanism 1s being cut.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 14th day 20. V of April A. 13.1916.

JOHN W. KEOGH.

Vitnesses IRMA M. BAKING, J. H. JOGHUM, Jr.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

